“Do you have a name?”
“Yes, of course. It’s Dr. Robert Nielson. He said he was in your medical school graduation class. He said you’d remember him from playing basketball in Bard Hall because he had a better jump shot. Whatever that means.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake,” Jack said with a laugh. “Of course. Put him on!”
Chapter 5
Tuesday, July 22, 7:25a.m.
New York, New York
“That’s a bald-faced lie,” Jack said without preamble but with a definite mirthful chuckle. “You never had a better jump shot than I did, Bob. No freaking way!”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Bob said, laughing in return. “But I was hoping the ruse might get you on the line. Knowing you from years ago, I thought there was a good chance you would be at work on the early side and maybe have a few minutes for a conversation if I was able to get ahold of you. Do you have time for a quick talk or do we need to schedule something? I can only imagine what your day is like at such a busy place.”
“Actually this might be a perfect time,” Jack said. “I’m forcibly becalmed for the moment by a fractious assistant who insists on following the rules. But let me ask: Is this a personal or professional call?”
“It’s about half and half,” Bob admitted. “It’s the professional aspect that forced me to finally do it, but I’ve been meaning to callto say hello and welcome you back to the East Coast ever since I found out from our alumni office you were back in New York City as a forensic pathologist. The embarrassing part is that it has taken me so long since you’ve been here now for years.”
“Time flies,” Jack said. “Listen! I do have a few free moments but let me give you my mobile number so you can call me right back. I’m standing in the middle of the OCME’s Identification Section, not in my office. For a bit of privacy, I’d like to at least duck into one of the ID cubicles while we chat. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course,” Bob responded. “I’m at my office desk with pen and paper. Give me the number!”
A moment later Jack handed the phone receiver back to Nala, gave Lou a quick explanation of where he’d be, and then ducked into one of the empty side rooms. He knew Vinnie was totally absorbed in committing to memory all the day’s sports minutiae and wouldn’t miss him. The moment Jack got himself comfortable with his feet up on the cubicle’s ancient, scarred desk, his phone rang. It was Bob.
“This is much better,” Jack said. “So how the hell are you?”
Jack and Bob Nielson had been in the same medical school, Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons, and had graduated together. They had gotten to know each other reasonably well mainly because they had played their share of pickup basketball in the medical school’s residence hall gym for all four years. But after medical school they had gone their separate ways, which was the usual situation unless fellow graduates ended up in the same residency program.
After the usual pleasantries of two old acquaintances catching up on more than twenty years, with each commending the other for being healthy enough to still play pickup basketball, Bob becamesuddenly serious and said: “Before I go any further, let me say how sorry I was to hear about the tragedy of your family’s passing. I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything, as lame as that excuse sounds.”
“I can understand,” Jack said. “Your intuition was well-founded. I was a basket case when I first got to the city. And it is still a very sensitive subject that I even avoid talking about, to be honest.”
“I can certainly understand that,” Bob said. “I’ve heard you’ve been making a name for yourself in your second specialty, forensic pathology. As I recall when you left medical school you were intent on ophthalmology.”
“You’ve a good memory! Yes, I headed out to Chicago for an eye residency and ended up practicing ophthalmology in Champaign, Illinois. But I quickly learned the hard way that business in the form of private equity was taking over clinical medicine, and as far as I was concerned, it was ruining it for both patient and doctor. That was the reason I went back and did another residency in a specialty that wasn’t dependent on health insurance companies.”
“I can certainly attest to business interests ruining medicine. You’re unfortunately one hundred percent correct. And you certainly haven’t allowed any grass to grow under your feet in your new specialty. I saw an article in the alumni news about how you thwarted a number of potential infectious disease outbreaks in the city, particularly one involving anthrax, and how you also exposed a transgenic xenotransplant conspiracy among other revelations. Bravo!”
“I try to stay busy,” Jack said with mild embarrassment.
“How about the social arena, if I might ask with some trepidation?”
“Actually, that’s worked out far better than I could have hoped,”Jack said. “I have a loving wife and two kids, one eight and the other fourteen.”
“Bravo again!”
“How about yourself, Bob?”
“Family wise I have a wife and three kids: two out of college and one still an undergraduate.”
“What about professionally?” Jack asked. “I’m sorry but I don’t remember your specialty interest.”
“Probably because I didn’t know when we graduated, but I’ve ended up being in country-style general practice. I did an internal medicine residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital, which unfortunately closed its doors in 2010 to the chagrin of all of us who trained there. As soon as I finished, I fled back here to the small town in the Adirondacks where I grew up. It’s called Essex Falls, and it is in Hamilton County, the least populated county in New York State. I truly missed the lifestyle the entire time I was in New York City as it is a magical place to live and raise a family if you like the outdoors, which I do. When I returned, I joined what was then a reasonably good-sized general medical practice set up by the town’s major employer, the Bennet Shoe Company.”
“And you are still in the same practice?”
“Yes and no. Strangely enough, the same year that St. Vincent’s Hospital closed, the Bennet Shoe Company went out of business. The effect on the town was catastrophic as three-quarters of its inhabitants were laid off with little other employment opportunities available.”
